Eurovision 2023: 🇬🇧 Belfast Expresses Interest to Host - Eurovoix
- ️@Eurovoix
- ️Tue Aug 09 2022
The Belfast City Council has confirmed to Eurovoix.com that the city is interested in hosting the Eurovision Song Contest 2023.
In June 2022, Belfast councillors have already written to the executives of the City Council to put the city forward to be among those who could host the 67th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest.
The statement of the City Council is as follows:
“An initial expression of interest for Belfast to host the Eurovision event has been submitted and is now being considered by event organisers.
If shortlisted, the next step would be to submit a full event proposal, outlining how Belfast would meet the detailed requirements to become a host city.
This will be a decision for elected members and will be considered by the council’s City Growth and Regeneration Committee at its next meeting on Wednesday 10 August.”
How will the host city be chosen?
The selection process will consist of two rounds. After receiving all applications, bidding cities will be shortlisted “based on their ability to meet the requirements and their responses around capability and experience.”
The key requirement is described as follows:
“The final decision on selecting the Host City will be based on a city or region’s capacity and capability in meeting the BBC’s and the EBU’s requirements, as well as availability of resources and general experience in hosting a large and complex event such as the Eurovision Song Contest.”
The decision regarding where the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 will be held is expected to be made this autumn, when the bidding process is completed. According to the BBC, the UK government may be consulted beforehand, but it will be the BBC and the EBU who will determine the host city.
The following cities have confirmed that work has started on their bids:
While the following cities have already stated their intention to submit a bid or are investigating whether to bid:
The 2023 contest will be the first contest since 1979 in which the winning nation was unable to host the following contest. It is the sixth occasion overall on which the country has hosted after the original host nation was unable to, following the Netherlands in 1960, France in 1963, Monaco in 1972, Luxembourg in 1974 Israel in 1980 and Ukraine in 2023. The 2023 contest will also extend the United Kingdom’s record of hosting Eurovision to nine times.
Kalush Orchestra won the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 with the song “Stefania”. It was Ukraine’s third victory in the contest’s history.
Image Source: Discover Northern Ireland | Source: Belfast City Council
I am a Hungarian-Dutch Eurofan who has watched the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in 2010 and has been following it ever since. I have joined the Eurovoix team in November 2020. The first Eurovision Song Contest I have been to was in 2015, in Vienna. In Turin, 2022 I attended as a member of press on behalf of Eurovoix.